The Hindu : National : International conference on federalism from November 5

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007
ePaper

National

National

International conference on federalism from November 5

Special Correspondent

India hosting the three-day event for the first time

Step towards establishing vibrant ‘community of practice’
Themes will focus on fiscal federalism, interaction

NEW DELHI: For the first time, India will host the International Conference on Federalism from November 5. Preparations are on and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has already chaired a number of preparatory meetings.

Regional roundtables

As precursor to the three-day conference here, expected to attract a sizable participation from several countries, four regional round-table conferences have been held in Guwahati, Nainital, Kochi and Goa for identifying case studies and potential areas of consensus building, official sources in the Ministry said.

The earlier conferences were held in Canada in 1999, in Switzerland in 2002 and in Belgium in 2005.

At the Brussels meet, it was decided to organise the 2007 conference in India for which the Inter-State Council Secretariat was identified as the nodal agency.

Conferences unique

“These conferences are unique. They are a step towards establishing an exciting and vibrant ‘community of practice’ — people who come together to engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour — in this case, the domain of federalism,” said officials involved in organising the conference.

Federal system

Instead of presentations of academic papers or scholastic debates, the conference would focus on themes, including accommodating diversity, fiscal federalism, interaction in a federal system and local government in fiscal systems.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National